1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a bushing system and, more particularly, to a bushing system for rotatably mounting a strap to a binding or a boot.
2. Description of the Art
Many devices include one or more members, such as a strap, that are releasably mounted for rotation. A screw and nut may be employed to releasably secure the strap while still permitting the desired rotation. Repeated movement of the strap, however, may inadvertently loosen the hardware. To isolate the rotatable strap from the fastener, it has been known to employ a bushing including a sleeve having an outer surface about which is mounted the strap and an inner bore through which the fastening screw passes. The strap does not act directly on the screw and, consequently, rotation of the strap does not loosen the fastening hardware.
Rotatable straps are commonly found in sports shoes or boots, such as in-line skates, ski boots, snowboard boots and the like, and in bindings for sports shoes or boots, such as snowboard bindings. For ease of understanding, but without limiting the scope of the invention, the inventive bushing system to which this patent is addressed is disclosed below particularly in connection with an arrangement for mounting a strap to a snowboard binding.
Binding systems for soft snowboard boots typically include one or more adjustable straps for securing the boot to the snowboard. Generally, a strap is rotatably mounted to the binding baseplate at one of several mounting locations to achieve a desired strap configuration. Strap rotation permits the strap to be readily positioned for stepping into and out of the binding, for adjusting binding strap comfort and support, and for collapsing the binding straps into a stowable configuration.
Generally, a strap is detachably secured to the baseplate by a screw that passes through holes in both the baseplate sidewall and the strap, and a lock nut that is threaded onto the screw. A concern has been raised that strap rotation acting directly on the fastening hardware may inadvertently loosen the connection.
An arrangement has been proposed for mounting a binding strap to a binding baseplate using a nonrotating bushing that rotatably supports and isolates the strap from the mounting hardware. As illustrated in FIG. 9, an end of the bushing 10 includes a plurality of discrete bosses 12 along its outer periphery that mate with a pair of diametrically opposed bosses 14 protruding from the outer surface 16 of the baseplate sidewall. Each boss 12, 14 has a flat tip requiring the bushing and corresponding sidewall bosses to be properly oriented so that they fully mate with each other when the bushing is attached to the baseplate. Additionally, when the baseplate includes several adjacent mounting holes, rotation of a strap 19 about one of the mounting holes may be impeded by the protruding bosses at an adjacent hole.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bushing system that is self-aligning and isolates the strap from its mounting hardware without impeding strap rotation.